The circumstances in both incidents were different but ended the same, as had dozens of encounters involving suspects and law enforcement in the past year: with gunshots.

Police shootings were a regular occurrence in Maricopa County in 2018, the last one occurring late Monday afternoon.

There were 82 shootings involving law enforcement in Arizona's most populous county — nearly double the 44 shootings in 2017.

Phoenix police were responsible for more than half.

Police work the scene of an officer-involved shooting that left the suspect dead and a Glendale police sergeant seriously injured, at the intersection of 43rd Avenue and Olive Avenue in Glendale on March 2, 2018.(Photo: David Wallace/The Republic)

Most of the encounters involved a person who was known to be armed with a real or replica gun.

Phoenix police were involved in 21 shootings in 2017; 25 in 2016; and 17 in 2015. Mesa police also saw a sizable jump from five incidents in 2017 to 11 in 2018.

The six-month stretch from March to August saw the vast majority — 76 percent — of the year's police shootings, records show. Law-enforcement experts have said the increase in those months is typical each year.

The New York City Police Department — the largest in the country, covering a city of 8.5 million people — had 13 police shootings through November, a spokesman told The Republic. As of Dec. 10, Los Angeles and Chicago had 31 shootings, and Houston had 16.

Phoenix's total is significantly higher than the combined tally of 30 from the three most-similarly populated cities: Philadelphia, San Antonio and San Diego. They have recorded 12, 12 and six, respectively, The Republic found.

Police cite increase in violence

The National Police Foundation, a Washington, D.C., non-profit research group, has been working with the department and is reviewing shooting data spanning a decade.

Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams — who came to that role after serving as Oxnard's police chief — has refrained from commenting on the increase, instead pointing to the study. She said she hoped the findings would be released soon.

Officials seemingly attributed the increase to Phoenix's "violent population" in a recent New York Times article. Williams later said the article and headline "misrepresents" what she and other leaders believe about the spike in police shootings.

Surge leads to community outcry

Banners were dropped on freeway overpasses to protest police shootings in Phoenix, Nov. 14, 2018.(Photo: Courtesy of Poder in Action)

Local advocacy group Poder in Action has said city officials were complicit in the killings.

Instead of additional money for guns and technology, a group spokesman said the city should invest more into their communities, primarily by better equipping officers to deal with drug and mental-health issues.

Group members also protested at council chambers in recent months and unfurled banners decrying the shootings from freeway overpasses and a downtown parking garage.

As 2018 headed toward its close, Poder in Action issued a travel advisory urging minority travelers to exercise caution when visiting Phoenix during the holiday season.

"As Black and Brown people, we know that the Phoenix Mayor and City Council has refused to hold the Phoenix Police Department accountable to residents, or take steps to end police violence," the group said in a December media release.